New Zealand’s top-ranked doubles player Michael Venus and German partner Tim Puetz have stunned the US Open champions to reach the doubles quarter-finals at the Indian Wells Masters in California.
The unseeded pair have beaten second seeds American Rajeev Ram and Britain’s Joe Salisbury 4-6, 6-4 10-6 in 1h 28m in a tournament regarded as the unofficial fifth Grand Slam.
Ram and Salisbury won the first set in 32 minutes, with just one break of serve.
World No.16 Venus had to dig deep in his opening service game of the second set, saving two breakpoints, before holding serve, but their chances looked bleak, when Venus was broken to trail 3-2.
They rallied and broke Salisbury immediately, before the Brit faltered again in his next service game,with a double fault handing the set to Venus and Puetz.
They dominated the match tiebreak, racing to an 8-3 lead with terrific serving and brilliant return points, facing Ram in particular.
At 9-4, they had five match points and although the second seeds saved two, they couldn’t stave off a third, with a Puetz volley landing in to secure the match.
Puetz was playing his first match in a month, after suffering a side strain, while serving in the pair’s second-round match at the US Open.
Venus and Puetz will face either fifth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau, or unseeded Americans Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson for a place in the semi-finals.
